Table 2.

Study procedure.

Timing			Activity
Prehospital admissiona
	Outpatient clinic visit	Recruitment of patients and family caregivers, screening for eligibility, and informed consent procedure Group allocation based on patient and family preferences
	1 week before hospital admission	Patients and family caregivers from the intervention group will get access to the mobile app (so-called Mantelzorgapp)
	2 days before admission	The researcher will confirm the patients’ participation in the intervention group depending on the ward capacity
Clinical phaseb
	Within 24 hours after surgery	Family caregivers will receive a personalized plan based on the identified patients’ care needs, and the plan includes the personal goals of the family caregiver Goals will be documented in the electronic patient record Patients and family caregivers will complete questionnaires about their baseline characteristics
	Day of surgery until 5 days after operation	Family caregivers start by participating in the fundamental care activities (and optional care activities) Family caregivers will register all activities in the app. Depending on the ward’s capacity and patients’ preferences, the program could be continued until discharge
	At discharge	Patients and family caregivers will complete discharge questionnaires
After discharge
	Follow-up 30 days and 90 days after discharge	The researcher will send questionnaires to patients and family caregivers for measuring outcomes The researcher will contact the patient and family caregiver by telephone for outcome measures not mentioned in the questionnaires The researcher will collect data on the number of readmissions and complications as registered in the electronic patient record

^aInformation about the FIP.

^bThe required clinical data regarding baseline characteristics and outcomes will be collected during hospitalization using standardized case report forms.